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Agreement returned. I especially like that you brought up that not all of us want to live forever. Even back in middle school, I thought the book Tuck Everlasting was a horror story :). I find the idea of living forever much more terrifying than death itself.

Some of these answers rather shock me. Are we that afraid of this life being it? The average lifespan in America is 78.1 years and climbing, and that's higher in some European coutries. Really? That's not enough? Everything science tells us about our bodies indicates that once those organs stop getting oxygen and nutrients to our brains, we begin to lose brain function. There comes a point (about 6 minutes in) that medicine at this time cannot reverse the damage done. This is our time of death. Without a functioning brain, we are not self-aware and we have no memories (and the same goes for before birth as that is a time when brain function is either non-existent or limited). We will not experience anything. The point is (and this is, in spirit, the same point I make about theism) evidence to this point indicates that death is the end of you experiencing anything, so until there's new compelling evidence that contradicts this, I'm going to focus on the here and now. That I know I have.

Yes, can't say I "fear death" because I believe that "I," once dead, will cease to exist: "being dead" isn't something I can ever experience. But I can (and will, of course) experience dying and so do have fear of that, especially when my imagination goes a little wild and thinks of awful ways to die!

When i die the matter i currently have on loan from the universe returns to the earth it crawled out of to feed the survival of other species that will live on or grow after me. How could anyone imagine a more beautiful ending then the one already provided by natures re absorption. We are an arrogant group of shits to think we can.

I think once you die there's nothing of your consciousness is left. The physical part of your body is recycled by other life as it decomposes, as far as I'm concerned that's about as close to living after death as you get. The atoms in your body are transferred to the eco-system and that's that!!

When you die, you die. That's it. You're a gonner. You are nolonger conscious. Your brains shuts off, therefore all of the organs in your body quit functioning. You do not have an eternal soul that lives on. The only thing about you that will "live on" are the memories of the people you knew while you were alive and the legacy you leave behind (a book you wrote, or an organization you founded, etc). Many religious people I know find this explaination depressing and they ask me "don't I want there to be a heaven?" or say "you're going to hell." I reply that I will never believe something simply because I WANT it to be true; that doesn't make it true...that makes ME delusional. And, likewise, I'll never believe something simply because I think it beneficial in some way to assume it was true. I will believe something only if there is sufficient evidence supporting it. Period. Besides, IF there was a heaven, I'd rather not go there. Imagine spending ETERNITY alongside people like Pat Robinson or Ray Comfort...um, no thank you. If I'm wrong and God exists and He, She, or It thinks it necessary to send me to hell forever (basically for the crime of thinking critically) then so be it.

Well, after death, we get recycled. We end up as parts of this and parts of that... just like exploding supernovas made the heavy elements in our bodies... we go on and on.... from star dust to earth dust to who knows what other heavenly body or being we end up being bits of....

When the brain dies, everything that is defined as "you" is no longer in existence... this is a proven fact as shown by neuroscience. There cannot be a life after death... there cannot be any hazy dream like states without a brain to think them.

we get recycled. energy/matter cannot be created or destroyed only transformed into one form or another... so bits of "you" could be anywhere, and we define "you" narrowly, so neuroscience has a perceptional bias.